A Memoir of Jane Austen by her nephew

Postscript

When first I was asked to put together a memoir of my aunt,
I saw reasons for declining the attempt. It was not only
that, having passed the three score years and ten usually
allotted to man's strength, and being unaccustomed to write
for publication, I might well distrust my ability to
complete the work, but that I also knew the extreme
scantiness of the materials out of which it must be
constructed. The grave closed over my aunt fifty-two years
ago; and during that long period no idea of writing her life
had been entertained by any of her family. Her nearest
relatives, far from making provision for such a purpose, had
actually destroyed many of the letters and papers by which
it might have been facilitated. They were influenced, I
believe, partly by an extreme dislike to publishing private
details, and partly by never having assumed that the world
would take so strong and abiding an interest in her works as
to claim her name as public property. It was therefore
necessary for me to draw upon recollections rather than on
written documents for my materials; while the subject itself
supplied me with nothing striking or prominent with which to
arrest the attention of the reader. It has been said that
the happiest individuals, like nations during their happiest
periods, have no history. In the case of my aunt, it was not
only that her course of life was unvaried, but that her own
disposition was remarkably calm and even. There was in her
nothing eccentric or angular; no ruggedness of temper; no
singularity of manner; none of the morbid sensibility or
exaggeration of feeling, which not unfrequently accompanies
great talents, to be worked up into a picture. Hers was a
mind well balanced on a basis of good sense, sweetened by an
affectionate heart, and regulated by fixed principles; so
that she was to be distinguished from many other amiable and
sensible women only by that peculiar genius which shines out
clearly enough in her works, but of which a biographer can
make little use. The motive which at last induced me to make
the attempt is exactly expressed in the passage prefixed to
these pages. I thought that I saw something to be done; knew
of no one who could do it but myself, and so was driven to
the enterprise. I am glad that I have been able to finish my
work. As a family record it can scarcely fail to be
interesting to those relatives who must ever set a high
value on their connection with Jane Austen, and to them I
especially dedicate it; but as I have been asked to do so, I
also submit it to the censure of the public, with all its
faults both of deficiency and redundancy. I know that its
value in their eyes must depend, not on any merits of its
own, but on the degree of estimation in which my aunt's
works may still be held; and indeed I shall esteem it one of
the strongest testimonies ever borne to her talents, if for
her sake an interest can be taken in so poor a sketch as I
have been able to draw.

This presentation of A Memoir of Jane Austen by her nephew
is Copyright 2001 by P.J. LaBrocca.
It may not be copied, duplicated,
stored or transmitted in any form without written permission.
The text is in the public domain.